Dave Mann’s editorial in Texas Monthly, "Right Aid" is a spitfire piece of writing full of touching Texas memories and some of Texas potential shortcomings. Mann discusses Abbott’s decision to close off the acceptance of Syrian Refugees last fall. I believe Mann’s intended audience are those of us who grew up in Texas. He starts the editorial off with a touching story of a Texas stranger helping him in a time of need, it was a story I have heard often growing up in Texas. A deer causes a car accident and everyone who drives by pulls over despite the potential risk to make sure the crashed party or parties are okay and getting help. Mann relates his life-saving moment to many of those escaping the Syrian war seeking refuge in Texas and why it is the Texas thing to open the borders back up and help those in need, despite the potential risk. I think Mann established his creditability with his opening story. By relating his personal story to the idea of allowing Syrian’s back into Texas he is showing his intended audience that yes the concern for terrorism needs to be accepted and valued but not over the need and importance of charitable acts by man. “I understand the concern about terrorism, but no act of charity is without some potential for danger. The man in the truck certainly didn’t have to stop that night, and his decision to pull over wasn’t without risk. We were alone together on a dark highway, and he had no idea who I was. I could have been intent on kidnapping, robbing, or killing him; he had no way to know I wasn’t dangerous. That didn’t deter him, though. He saw someone in need of his help, and he offered it.”
Mann takes on the argument of terrorism coming to the US posing as a refugee by completely discrediting it. “It’s highly unlikely that an ISIS terrorist would come to the U.S. posing as a refugee. How unlikely? A report from the Cato Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank, noted that between 1975 and 2015, about 3.25 million refugees entered the country and only 20 (or 0.00062 percent) were charged with terrorism. There were three successful attacks—killing 3 Americans over four decades—but there have been none in the past fifteen years. The odds of any single American’s dying in a terrorist attack perpetrated by a refugee in a given year are approximately 1 in 3.4 billion. You’re much more likely to die on a roller coaster (1 in 300 million).” I like hoe Mann uses the example of being more likely to die from a roller coaster than a terrorist posing as a refugee, it really shows how Abbot and other politicians have just been using a fear campaign to control the Texas boarders. Mann continues to make a great argument by pointing out the demonizing refugees also holds its own share of risk. Meaning painting an image to the public that every refugee is posing as a terrorist in itself has some risk. “It cynically stokes fear of a threat that barely exists and may make life even harder for Syrian refugees already here. They’re more likely to face discrimination and suspicion; some of their neighbors, classmates, and co-workers may view them as terrorists. It’s easy to see how rhetoric like Abbott’s can contribute to the alienation of American Muslims, the very people best positioned to alert authorities to homegrown Islamic extremists, which, as we saw in San Bernardino and Orlando, are the much more likely source of terrorism. In that sense, denigrating refugees could make us less safe.” Mann persists on pointing out that most importantly the refusal to be charitable to a neighbor in need could potentially change the way we Texans treat each other as well, eventually growing more and more suspicious about each other evolving into a state who does not pull over to help a neighbor in need. I agree with Mann, this would not want to be a state I would want to live in. Texans ability to be selfless and charitable is one of the reasons I am proud to be Texan raised.
